06 September 2023 , 23:01
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Fixing homes with damp and mould could save the NHS more than £1billion in savings - the equivalent cost of training 20,000 nurses. Research seen by the Mirror highlights the damaging impact poor housing is having on people’s health and the NHS.
A report, produced by think tank Demos, found fixing homes with category 1 hazards - those that present the most serious risk to life such as damp and mould - could save over £1billion in health costs. It also found that while repairing homes with excess cold hazards would cost £4.8billion, it would create a potential of £19billion in health benefits.
Damp and mould is associated with a number of health conditions including mental and social wellbeing, allergies, asthma and the effects of toxins from mould and fungal infections. Cold homes can cause problems around high blood pressure and increase the number of instances of colds, heart attacks and pneumonia, while other hazards can lead to physical injuries such as falls or cuts.
Experts said the "bleak truth" is that the UK's housing stock is the oldest and among the poorest quality and least energy efficient in Western Europe and has "some of the highest associated health and care costs". "The housing stock we have now is inadequate to meet people’s needs, and this is only going to get worse as our population ages," it said.
Awaab's law was created this year to force social landlords to fix poor housing conditions within strict time limits, after toddler Awaab Ishak died of a respiratory condition in December 2020. Simon Francis, co-ordinator at the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, yesterday (WED) told MPs it is estimated there were 4,706 excess winter deaths over 2022 to 2023 caused by living in a cold damp home in England, Scotland and Wales, up from 3,186 the winter before.
Mirror says it's time to End Housing Hell after the death of Awaab Ishak
Andrew O'Brien, Director of Policy and Impact at Demos, said: "The signs that we are becoming an unhealthier nation are becoming harder to ignore. NHS crises are routine and health outcomes are suffering. One of the biggest lessons of the pandemic was that public health cannot meaningfully be separated from the country's economic health. They are two sides of the same coin and this should be reflected in government policy.
"By making affordable improvements to UK housing we can help prevent illness and injury and reduce demand on our already-stretched health services. The government can then use the savings to plug NHS recruitment gaps and improve health outcomes across the country."
Dr Carole Easton OBE, Chief Executive at the Centre for Ageing Better, which co-produced the report, said: “It is no coincidence that England's health and the quality of its homes are both among the lowest in Europe. The link between housing and health is long established but continues to be overlooked when searching for solutions to our nation’s sickness crisis.
“Our new report shows that by investing in home improvement, we can save thousands of lives and improve the health of countless more. And at a time when the nation’s finances are severely restrained, the relative low cost of home improvement compared to the scale of the benefits it could deliver, make it the value-for-money option the government needs right now.”
The Mirror is campaigning for vast improvements to social, council and private homes on the rental market - with latest figures showing there are 3.5 million homes that do not meet the Decent Homes Standard.
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